Category Archives: Iran

I have mixed thoughts on the US cruise missile strike on the Syrian airfield last night.

These thoughts are going to appear all over the map but given the situation in the Middle East, that seems unavoidable:

• There can be no doubt that Syria’s armed forces launched the sarin attack that prompted the US cruise missile strike. The excuse that the Syrians and Russians gave that Al Nusra moved a sarin lab into the area and an air strike inadvertently released the chemicals is absurd. Sarin would burn off in such a strike and would not be dispersed in such a way as to cause mass casualties. Syrian forces have used fixed wing aircraft to launch chemical attacks in the past. It appears that the US military has intelligence, either through technical or human means–or both–about how the chemical attack was conducted.

• I hope that the cruise missile strike is strictly a punitive strike against Assad for his use of chemical weapons and not a signal that the US is getting more involved in the Syrian melee or choosing sides in a multi-sided war that has no good guys (in any significant numbers) on any side.

• America’s main interest in Syria continues to be the destruction of the Islamic State.

• The Jihadists who are arrayed against Assad are organizations that he for years supported and allowed to stage through Syria via rat lines into Iraq’s Al Anbar province. This is a case of Frankenstein’s monsters turning against Dr. Frankenstein.

• The pundits who are claiming that Assad is “secular” or a “protector of Christians” and therefore should not be targeted are ignorant. Assad has been a long-time sponsor of Jihadist terrorism. The groups that he is now fighting against were once under his protection. He is a long-time sponsor of Jihadist terrorism, particularly Hezbollah. Syria has protected and provided safe haven to Hezbollah for decades. Until September 11th, 2001, Hezbollah had racked up the highest body count of Americans of any terrorist organization in the world, including the 23 October 1983 Islamikaze bombing of the US Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. In other words, Assad is an enemy of the US and always has been. The fact that he dresses like a Westerner and is not a pious Muslim himself is completely irrelevant. Moreover, Assad has waged a propaganda campaign to convince gullible Westerners that he is a protector of Christians. It serves his purposes at this point to portray himself that way, but, remember, the organizations committing genocide against Christians in Syria today once enjoyed Assad’s protection.

• Obama was in a much better position to take action against Assad’s chemical arsenal years ago and failed to do so after speaking loudly about it. President Trump inherited a position of weakness and sought to re-establish American strength in the theater of operations.

• The Russians claimed that they had removed all of Syria’s chemical weapons back in 2014 in a deal trumpeted by the Obamanistas. They lied. The Russians lie. That is what they do.

• The key ally to the Russians and Syrians in the conflict is Iran, a mortal enemy of the US. That’s worth mentioning.

America is at war and we continue to be prevented from identifying and understanding our enemies as a result of influence operations targeting our bureaucratized counterterrorism apparatus.

The latest evidence of this long-standing and, unfortunately, very effective influence campaign comes from the revelation that the “Countering Violent Extremism Subcommittee” of the Homeland Security Advisory Council to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued a recommendation that urges rejecting use of Islamic terms such as “jihad” and “shariah” in communications about the threats that we face….

But the effort to suppress even mere mention of the word “shariah” is actually much more damaging than the suppression of the word “jihad.” That’s because shariah is THE enemy threat doctrine.

To understand our enemies, their motivations, their intentions and their strategy, one must study shariah. Shariah is everything to the jihadists. It is the code that they follow and its full implementation is their goal.

Forbidding the use of the term shariah, much less suppressing study of shariah in the present conflict is the equivalent of forbidding intelligence agencies from studying Mein Kampf in World War II or the works and words of Marx, Lenin, Stalin and Mao during the Cold War.

Anyone who would recommend that we avoid studying and talking about shariah simply must have a nefarious purpose.

By way of review, shariah is Islamic law. The terms shariah and Islamic law are completely interchangeable; they refer to exactly the same thing. Shariah is an immutable theo-political-legal-military code derived from the Islamic doctrinal trilogy, made up of the Quran, the Sirah (the biography of the prophet Mohammed) and the Hadith (traditions, sayings and stories compiled about the life of Mohammed).

Every single Jihadist terrorist group in the world–without exception–has as its stated goal the imposition of shariah: the Islamic State, Al Qaeda, HAMAS, Hezbollah, the Muslim Brotherhood, Lashkar e Taiba, Abu Sayyef, Jemaah Islamiyah, Boko Haram, the Taliban, Al Shabaab–all of them.

So, while the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will be carefully avoiding the use of the term shariah, our enemies have been using it quite commonly, frequently and prominently, as if to illustrate the absurdity of the DHS recommendation.

What follows is a compilation of quotes from jihadi leaders and Al Qaeda and Islamic State documents that reveal the central importance of shariah to their movement. This is why Americans must familiarize themselves with shariah.

SHARIAH ACCORDING TO THE JIHADISTS THEMSELVES

• The sharia has forbidden us from taking infidels as confidants, inducting them into our secrets.
• The sharia forbids us from appointing infidels to important posts.
• The sharia forbids us from adopting or praising the beliefs and views of the infidels.
• The sharia forbids us from assisting infidels against Muslims; even the one who is coerced has o excuse to fight under the banner of infidels.
• The sharia commands us to battle infidels—both original infidels and apostates, as well as hypocrites. As for waging jihad against the infidels who have usurped the lands of Islam, this is a duty considered second only to faith, by ulemaic consensus.
• The sharia does not accept the excuses made by hypocrites—that they befriend the infidels because they fear the vicissitudes of time.
• We are duty-bound by the sharia to help Muslims overcome the infidels.

Democracy is based on the principle of the power of creatures over other creatures, and rejects the principle of God’s absolute power over all creatures; it is also based on the idea the men’s desires, whatever they may be, replace God absolutely, and on the refusal to obey God’s law. In Islam, when there is a disagreement or a difference of opinion, one refers to God, his Prophet, and the commands of sharia.

Ayman al-Zawahiri
Al Qaeda leader

Hassan Nasrallah of Hezbollah

From the point of view of ideology and sharia, we are required to establish God’s rule over any part of this earth, regardless of particularities and details. This can only happen, however, if the nation adopts this ideology and safeguards it.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
Leader of Hezbollah

The laws of the shari’a embrace a diverse body of laws and regulations, which amounts to a complete social system. In this system of laws, all the needs of man have been met: his dealings with his neighbors, fellow citizens, and clan, as well as children and relatives; the concerns of private and material life; regulations concerning war and peace and intercourse with other nations; penal and commercial law; and regulations pertaining to trade and agriculture.

Reason also dictates that we establish a government in order to be able to ward off aggression and to defend the honor of the Muslims in case of attack. The shari’a, for its part, instructs us to be constantly ready to defend ourselves against those who wish to attack us.

It will be the duty of the Muslims to engage in an armed jihad against the ruling group in order to make the policies ruling society and the norms of government conform to the principles and ordinances of Islam.

Regarding which shared understandings, exactly, is it possible that we agree with the immoral West?… What commonalities, if our foundations contradict, rendering useless the shared extremities—if they even exist? For practically everything valued by the immoral West is condemned under sharia law. As for this atmosphere of shared understandings, what evidence is there for Muslims to strive for this? What did the Prophet, the Companions after him, and the righteous forebears do? Did they wage jihad against infidels, attacking them all over earth, in order to place them under the suzerainty of Islam in great humility and submission? Or did they send messages to discover “shared understandings” between themselves and the infidels in order that they may reach an understanding whereby universal peace, security, and natural relations would spread—in such a satanic manner as this? The sharia provides a true and just path, securing Muslims, and providing peace to the world.

… Offensive Jihadis (are) an established and basic tenet of this religion. It is a religious duty rejected only by the most deluded. So how can they call off this religious obligation [Offensive Jihad], while imploring the West to understandings and talks “under the umbrella of justice, morality, and rights”? The essence of all this comes from right inside the halls of the United Nations, instead of the Divine foundations that are built upon hating the infidels, repudiating them with tongue and teeth till they embrace Islam or pay the jizya [tribute] with willing submission and humility… Muslims, and especially the learned among them, should spread sharia law to the world—that and nothing else. Not laws under the “umbrella of justice, morality, and rights” as understood by the masses. No, the sharia of Islam is the foundation.

They say that our sharia does not impose our particular beliefs upon others; this is a false assertion. For it is, in fact , part of our religion to impose our particular beliefs upon others.

Thus whoever refuses the principle of terror[ism] against the enemy also refuses the commandment of Allah the Exalted, the Most High, and His sharia.

Osama Bin Laden

Succession, establishment, and safety – a promise from Allah reserved for the Muslims…is not simply kingship, subjugation, dominance, and rule. Rather, succession is to utilize all that for the purpose of compelling the people to do what the Sharia (Allah’s law) requires of them concerning their interests in the hereafter and worldly life, which can only be achieved by carrying out the command of Allah, establishing His religion, and referring to His law for judgment.

“This is the Promise of Allah”
Islamic State Al Hayat Media Center
2014

…terrorism is to disbelieve in those slogans and to believe in Allah. Terrorism is to refer to Allah’s law for judgment. Terrorism is to worship Allah as He ordered you.

“A Message to Mujahidin and the Muslim Ummah in the Month of Ramadan”
Islamic State Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

So seek shelter – after Allah – with the Islamic State. What do you wait for after the truth has become clearer than the day and after the spiteful Rāfidah exposed their reality? Here they are today slaughtering everyone considered from Ahlus-Sunnah in Baghdad and elsewhere. No one was saved from them, even their allies, supporters, aids, tails, and dogs from the apostates who had once belonged to Ahlus-Sunnah, those in the Sahwah, army, police, and elsewhere, those whom the evil scholars confused into fleeing the implementation of Allah’s law in the territory of the Islamic State. So they became homeless, humiliated, fearful, and worrisome of the Rāfidah’s cruelty, whereas the Muslims live in the territory of the Islamic State with might and honor, secure by Allah’s bounty alone, with a life of comfort, going about the affairs of their business, livelihood, and trade, enjoying the grace of living under the rule of their Lord’s law, and all praise and grace is Allah’s. Therefore, O Muslims, seek shelter – after Allah – with the Islamic State.

Islamic State Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
Speech recorded on 14 May 2015

Indeed, every Muslim is intended by this war. And he is obliged to defend the religion of Allah and His Sharī‟ah…There is no good in living if we do not live under the rule of Allah and in the shade of His Sharī‟ah. And how sweet a death it is to die while supporting Allah‟s religion and defending His Sharī‟ah and His rule.

The religion of Allah, the Exalted, will not be implemented, and this goal cannot be achieved, for which Allah created us, except by the implementation of the Sharia of Allah, and appealing to him, and the application of Islamic law. This can only be achieved by force and power.

Islamic State Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
Sermon delivered July 2014

The death of a single Muslim, no matter his role in society, is more grave to the believer than the massacre of every kāfir on earth. And while the Sharī’ah calls for the invasion of all kāfir lands, certainly the aggressors are dealt with before those nations not actively waging war against the Khilāfah. This is an obvious reality. Any disbeliever standing in the way of the Islamic State will be killed, without pity or remorse, until governance is entirely for Allah.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 14

Democracy is a religion that gives supreme authority to people rather than Allah In it, the right to legislate is distributed amongst mankind so that they thereby determine what laws are to be ruled by in the lands. If the majority decide sodomy is legal, it is legalized even though it contradicts Allah’s Sharī’ah. And if the majority decide to illegalize sodomy, it is made illegal, not because it is Allah’s legislation, but because supreme power is that of mankind, above and beyond the authority of Allah! How wicked a religion is one where all its members consider themselves “gods” besides Allah!

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 14

Jihad in this era is an obligation upon each and every Muslim as numerous
lands of the Muslims have been usurped by the kufār and numerous parties of apostasy have arisen therein. Until all these lands are retaken, cleansed of apostates, and ruled by the Sharī’ah, the obligation does not drop.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 14

We clarify to all that the Islamic State’s position is clear concerning the ruling on these factions, and it is that they are groups that have apostatized from the religion of Allah and have committed numerous deeds that have nullified the fundamentals of the religion. From amongst these deeds is that they fight a state that rules by the Sharī’ah of Allah while these factions are in one trench and one coalition with other factions that have resisted the implementation of the Shari’ah and declared their efforts to build a ‘democratic, civil, pluralistic’ state that removes the law of Allah from the lands of the Islamic State and replaces it with jāhilī laws. All this is done with support and direct air cover from the American-led crusader coalition that only strives to destroy the mission of the Khilāfah.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 13

So adhere to and be diligent in obedience and don’t get tired. Listen both in times of dislike and delight, Unless the leader’s order is against the Sharī’ah, for there is no obedience to the leader in such.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 12

We likewise renew our call to the soldiers of the factions in Shām and Libya. We call on them to think long before embarking to ght the Islamic State, which rules by that which Allah revealed. Remember, O you afflicted by fitnah, before embarking to fight the Islamic State, that there is no place on the face of the Earth where the Sharī’ah of Allah is implemented and the rule is entirely for Allah except for the lands of the Islamic State. Remember that if you were able to capture one hand span, one village, or one city from it, the law of Allah in that area would be replaced with the laws of men. Then ask yourself, ‘What is the ruling on someone who replaces or is a cause for the replacement of the law of Allah with the law of man?’ Yes, you commit kufr by such. So beware, for by fighting the Islamic State you fall into kufr whether you realize it or not.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 12

Then the Sharī’ah of Islam came and deemed a specific number of wives that no Muslim is allowed to exceed, that number being four. As for concubines, then there is no limit.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 12

And isn’t polygamy a part of this Sharī’ah? Know then that the One who has honored the Muslim woman and has given her rights that protect her from the plots of the wicked is the very One who has permitted for the man to marry those that please him of women. And based on that, it is not permissible for a woman who believes in Allah and the Last Day to argue concerning the Sharī’ah of Allah.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 12

…the Islamic State will continue to strike Russia until Sharī’ah returns to all the lands of the Muslims usurped by the crusader Russians and until Russia pays the jizyah in humiliation.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 12

…we reassure the Muslims in the eastern and western extents of the Earth that Libya will not be ruled except by Allah’s Sharī’ah and that the Islamic State by Allah’s grace will pave its way quickly towards consolidation and expansion.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 11

…apostate forces wage war against Allah’s religion by abandoning the Sharī’ah laws and replacing them with manmade laws in addition to waging war against the people… dragging them to prisons, and handing them over to the crusaders. Due to their war against Allah’s religion…the Islamic State rose to repel their attacks against the Muslims and to implement the Sharī’ah, spread justice, and save the prisoners from harm.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 11

The call to defend the Islamic State – the only state ruling by Allah’s Sharī’ah today – continues to be answered by sincere Muslims and mujāhidīn around the world prepared to sacrifice their lives and everything dear to them to raise high the word of Allah and trample democracy and nationalism…Thus we renew our call to the sincere Muslims around the world to march forth and wage war against the crusaders and apostates who seek to wipe out the Sharī’ah.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 10

We call all sides to reason, prioritize the general good, and adopt the principles of our Sharī’ah and great revolution in word and deed…

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 10

…it is obligatory to appoint a single imām and khalīfah for the Ummah who will govern the people in accordance with Allah’s religion and make them follow the laws of the Sharī’ah.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 10

We are fighting for the cause of Allah and will establish His Sharī’ah.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 10

…there is no place on the face of the Earth where the Sharī’ah of Allah is implemented and the rule is entirely for Allah except for the lands of the Islamic State.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 10

…the only thing that prevents one from being fought and killed is to rule by the Sharī’ah, adhere to its laws, and disassociate oneself from those who forcefully resist the Sharī’ah and its laws.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 10

So detonate your explosive belt in their midst. Shoot their soldiers in the chest. Dissuade whoever you can from fighting those who rule by the Sharī’ah.

Islamic State Dabiq magazine
No. 10

They fight us under the name of Democracy, they wage war at the very core of our Islamic culture and identity, they consider everything contradicting Democracy as radical and fundamental. It is of course impossible for them to just allow us to rule by Shariah. Therefore, the eventual result is that fighting will continue until we remove this oppressive and dominant plague, America, upon the Muslims.

Al Qaeda’s Inspire magazine
No. 15

May the blessings of Allāh be upon you, as you abide to the Shariah of your Lord in your jihãd and actions. May the blessings of Allāh be upon you, as you strive earnestly and as you wage your jihãd and strike the enemies of Allāh and your enemies. May Allāh accept our heroes the knights of Azawad and grant them Jannatul-Firdaus, join us with them while we are steadfast upon this path. And may He make their blood water the tree of Islam and spread the Laws of Allāh on earth.

Al Qaeda’s Inspire magazine
No. 15

We will fight tirelessly and we will keep sacrificing upon this path until the word of Allah is the highest and the Islamic Shari’a be our laws in life. We will not deviate from it nor accept anything else to replace it.

Al Qaeda’s Inspire magazine
No. 15

They are the lions of this Al Qaeda. They are the guardians of Shariah.

Al Qaeda’s Inspire magazine
No. 15

One must know that Allah rewards for His obedience and punishes for His disobedience. Secondly – What is intended in knowing Allah; it is the knowledge of the shariah rulings.”

Al Qaeda’s Inspire magazine
No. 15

And it is evident enough that (the Western people) participate in this war by electing their governments, paying taxes that fund their governments in its aggression towards Muslims, and helping the Zionist oppressors in Palestine. Their silence or participation in crimes and aggression towards Muslims living in their countries; imprisonment, persecution, house arrests and the vicious immoral media campaign in defaming the prophet and the Sharia.

Al Qaeda’s Inspire magazine
No. 14

It is the ruling in the Islamic principles that he who denies or rejects a definite law, and he who does contrary to it rebelliously, stubbornly, by legitimizing or disdaining it, is a kafir (who has disbelieved) in Allah and the pure Shari’ah, which Allah the Exalted has chosen for His Slaves.

Al Qaeda’s Inspire magazine
No. 14

Stand, revenge on America the enemy of Islam and Muslims. Remind us of the glories of Nairobi, Dar-es-salam, Aden, New York, Washington, Fort Hood, Benghazi and Boston. Defend your religion, Ummah and honors from America and the crusaders, by hitting their interests in our countries and theirs. The war with the crusaders and Jews is global; it does not acknowledge boundaries and there are no restrictions except those brought by the just Shari’ah or those advantegeous to Islam and Muslims as seen by the trusted Ummah scholars and Mujahideen leaders.

Al Qaeda’s Inspire magazine
No. 12

What is it that detaches you from the rest of the Ummah!? We have to struggle to establish the Shari’ah of Allāh. It’s not something that you get for free, or just by praying the 5 prayers and make du’aa, it is established through blood and sacrifice of everything … everything!

Al Qaeda’s Inspire magazine
No. 12

Democracy is a contrary idea because it calls to shirk of masses’ ruling instead of worshiping Allah (swt) Alone in legislation and ruling by Sharia law.

Al Qaeda’s Inspire magazine
No. 12

The Mujahideen – may Allāh protect them – are the raisers of the mighty flag of Tawheed, the followers of the Islamic Shari’ah, the followers of the path of our beloved Prophet, the ones uniting the Muslim Ummah.

Jaws was a blockbuster hit in 1975 based on the best-selling novel by the late Peter Benchley.

The storyline is about a Great White shark that stakes out its territory off the coast of a New England resort town named Amity. Bathers and swimmers start getting attacked and eaten right as the 4th of July tourist bonanza begins.

The Chief of Police and a marine biologist try to convince the Mayor of Amity to close the beaches until the shark can be killed. The mayor ignores their warnings and, sure enough, more people die as a result.

The Mayor refuses to recognize the threat and treats his police chief and the marine biologist as if they were crazy for even suggesting that he close the beaches. His myopia results in dead voters.

There is a lesson here relating to today’s threat from Islam, both in the form of civilizational Jihad and violent Jihad.

In this analogy, the criminally myopic and irresponsible Mayor of Amity is represented by elected and appointed officials in the West who either refuse to recognize the existential threat to Western civilization posed by Jihad or recognize the threat, but deny it publicly.

We’re not just talking about President Obama here, though he certainly personifies the West’s inadequate response to Jihad. It is now abundantly clear that Obama’s ties to the Muslim Brotherhood run broad and deep.

Obama’s infamous speech in Cairo in 2009, with Muslim Brotherhood members in the front row

But Obama isn’t the only one to blame. He is essentially implementing the policies he always said he would implement. The people who voted for an support Obama are to blame.

But not just the voters are to blame.

Take Secretary of State John Kerry, for example. He is responsible for the mythology that Jihad is founded in poverty, despite there being no evidence to back up this supposition. To make matters worse, he is leading the charge to strike a horrible bargain that will guarantee that the world’s most active state sponsor of terrorism, Iran, achieves its goal of becoming a nuclear power.

From this point forward, let John Kerry be forever known as the father of the Iranian Bomb.

The Expectant Father of the Iranian Atomic Bomb

Kerry’s predecessor, Hillary Clinton, is also a villain. Hillary and Bill’s close and extensive financial ties to the Saudis, Qataris and other nefarious Gulf interests are enough to make even the Bush family green with envy.

Then there is the soon-to-be departed attorney general Eric Holder, who refused to even utter the euphemism “radical Islam” under congressional questioning and then shut down the follow-on to the Holy Land Foundation prosecution, letting Muslim Brotherhood fronts such as CAIR and ISNA, who were named unindicted co-conspirators in that terrorism case, off scot-free. Holder may be the worst villain of all and should be pursued for prosecution on a variety of charges for malfeasance during his long tenure at the helm of Justice.

Running interference for the Muslim Brotherhood

But there are plenty of Republicans to blame, who sat by and let all this happen, with scarcely a word of protest.

There’s John McCain, who cooperated with Obama in setting the stage for Libya to descend into chaos, opening an opportunity for Jihadists and then repeated the same mistake in Syria.

John Boehner is a villain as well, because he rolled over for Obama repeatedly, then teamed with Marco Rubio and the aforementioned McCain in criticizing members of their own Republican caucus who questioned Hillary Clinton consort Huma Mahmood Abedin’s longstanding and proven ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Boehner: An Enabler of Obama’s Policies

All of these people personify the Mayor of Amity from Jaws. They all want the rest of us to believe that the shark isn’t out there, or that it isn’t dangerous. They have differing motivations, but the result is the same: the West is vulnerable and under assault.

Many Americans have forgotten about the 28 pages of the original 9/11 Commission Report that were redacted and declared classified before the report was released.

It is widely believed that those 28 pages included details of official Saudi involvement with Al Qaeda and possibly even signs of Saudi-Iranian cooperation in arranging for Hezbollah to provide training for Al Qaeda. (Those details of Hezbollah involvement in the 9/11 plot DID make it into other sections of the 9/11 report, but, like so much of the attacks, they have been forgotten as well.)

The article linked below discusses a new effort to have the 28 pages released to the public. It is imperative that we all set partisan politics aside and get behind this effort…

9/11 Link To Saudi Arabia Is Topic Of 28 Redacted Pages In Government
Report; Congressmen Push For Release

In case you had any doubts as to whether the “interim” agreement with Iran on nuclear technology that Barack Obama and John Kerry foisted on the world in the dead of night over the weekend was a terrible development, the world’s foremost Shia Jihadist terrorist organization has provided confirmation:

Lebanon’s Hezbollah on Monday hailed a nuclear deal between its patron Iran and world powers as “a major victory” for Tehran.

“What was achieved through this agreement is a major victory for Iran and to all the people of the region and it is a defeat for the enemies of these people,” Hezbollah said in a statement.

“(It is) a model victory and world class achievement which the Islamic state adds to its record which shines with victories and achievements.”

There are many people in America who don’t know just who Hezbollah is. For those of you who need a reminder, Hezbollah is the Jihadist terrorist wing of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Their stated goal is to establish an Islamic state in the Middle East ruled by Shariah. They have a long record of killing Americans, stretching back to 1982 and 1983 with Islamikaze truck bomb attacks on the US embassy and US Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, a host of hostage-takings and murders of Americans in Beirut in the remainder of the 1980s and active involvement in the insurgency against US forces in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

This is not the first time that Barack Obama has pleased Hezbollah. Not long ago, he allowed Ali Mussa Daqduq, a high-level Hezbollah operative responsible for torturing and killing several US Army soldiers, to go free in Iraq…

Their latest email bulletin included this update on hostages held by Jihadist terrorists around the globe, in places like Yemen, Somalia, the Philippines, Nigeria, Syria, Mali, Afghanistan, Niger, Iran and Iraq. The overwhelming majority of hostages are Western; 8 are Americans:

• French national Tanguy Moulin-Fournier held hostage in Cameroon/Nigeria for 20 days
• French national Albane Moulin-Fournier held hostage in Cameroon/Nigeria for 20 days
• French Moulin-Fournier family uncle held hostage in Cameroon/Nigeria for 20 days
• French Moulin-Fournier Child, age 5, held hostage in Cameroon/Nigeria for 20 days
• French Moulin-Fournier Child, age 8, held hostage in Cameroon/Nigeria for 20 days
• French Moulin-Fournier Child, age 10, held hostage in Cameroon/Nigeria for 20 days
• French Moulin-Fournier Child, age 12, held hostage in Cameroon/Nigeria for 20 days
• Canadian Jernoc Wobert held hostage by ELN in Colombia for 1 month, 21 days
• Austrian national held hostage in Yemen for 2 months, 18 days
• Finnish female national held hostage in Yemen for 2 months, 18 days
• Finnish male national held hostage in Yemen for 2 months, 18 days
• French national Francis Collomp held hostage by Ansaru in Nigeria for 2 months, 20 days
• American journalist James Foley held hostage in Syria for 3 months, 17 days
• French national Alberto Rodriguez Leal held hostage by MUJAO in Mali for 3 months, 19 days
• Ukrainian journalist Anhar Kochneva held hostage by Abu Husayn Squadron in Syria for 4 months, 27 days
• American journalist Austin Tice held hostage in Syria for 6 months, 26 days
• Canadian Astrid Shel held hostage in Somalia by al-Shabaab for 8 months, 11 days
• Canadian Korat Sadazi held hostage in Somalia by al-Shabaab for 8 months, 11 days
• Filipino Glenn Costes held hostage in Somalia by al-Shabaab for 8 months, 11 days
• Norwegian Stephen Denis held hostage in Somalia by al-Shabaab for 8 months, 11 days
• Saudi diplomat Abdullah Mohammed Khalifa al-Khalidi held hostage by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen for 11 months, 11 days
• German/American Michael Scott Moore held hostage in Somalia for 1 year, 1 month, 18 days
• Australian Warren Richard Rodwell held hostage by Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in Philippines for 1 year, 3 months, 6 days
• Swedish national held hostage in Mali 1 year, 3 months, 14 days
• Dutch national held hostage in Mali 1 year, 3 months, 14 days
• British national held hostage in Mali 1 year, 3 months, 14 days
• French national Serge Lazarevic held hostage by al-Qaeda Maghreb (AQLIM) in Mali for 1 year, 3 months, 15 days
• French national Philippe Verdon held hostage by al-Qaeda Maghreb (AQLIM) in Mali for 1 year, 3 months, 15 days
• Spaniard Blanca Thiebaut held hostage by al-Shabaab in Somalia for 1 year, 4 months, 26 days
• Spaniard Montserrat Serra held hostage by al-Shabaab in Somalia for 1 year, 4 months, 26 days
• American aid worker Warren Weinstein held hostage by al-Qaeda in Pakistan for 1 year, 6 months, 26 days• Canadian tourist Colin Rutherford held hostage by Taliban in Afghanistan for 2 years, 4 months, 7 days
• French national Marc Feret held hostage by al-Qaeda Maghreb (AQLIM) in Niger for 2 years, 5 months, 23 days
• French national Thierry Dole held hostage by al-Qaeda Maghreb (AQLIM) in Niger for 2 years, 5 months, 23 days
• French national Daniel Larribe held hostage by al-Qaeda Maghreb (AQLIM) in Niger for 2 years, 5 months, 23 days
• French national Pierre Legrand held hostage by al-Qaeda Maghreb (AQLIM) in Niger for 2 years, 5 months, 23 days• American soldier Bowe Bergdahl held hostage by Taliban in Afghanistan for 3 years, 8 months, 11 days
• Brit Murray Watson held hostage by al-Shabaab in Somalia for 4 years, 11 months, 10 days
• American Robert Levinson held hostage in Iran for 6 years, 2 days
• German Sinan Krause held hostage by Arrows of Righteous Brigade in Iraq for 6 Years, 1 month, 5 days
• South African Johann Enslin held hostage in Iraq for 6 years, 3 months, 1 days
• South African Hardus Greef held hostage in Iraq for 6 years, 3 months, 1 days
• South African Callie Scheepers held hostage in Iraq for 6 years, 3 months, 1 days
• South African Andre Durant held hostage in Iraq for 6 years, 3 months, 1 days
• American Jeffrey Ake held hostage in Iraq for 7 years, 11 months
• American Dean Sadek held hostage by 1920 Revolution Brigades in Iraq for 8 years, 4 months, 9 days
• American Aban Abdel Malek Mahmoud Elias held hostage in Iraq for 8 years, 10 months, 8 days

President Obama has selected one of the worst possible candidates imaginable to become Secretary of Defense. Chuck Hagel has a history of being weak on Jihad and terrorism, the greatest threat to American lives and national security today.

Hagel’s nomination should become a “teaching moment.” Just because someone served honorably in the uniform of the United States military or has an “R” instead of a “D” after his name, does not automatically mean that the person is strong on national security policy.

Chuck Hagel is as bad on the threat of Jihadist terrorism as anyone in America. Not only has he been on the wrong side of votes on the issue, but his votes demonstrate a lack of commitment on the issue, as well a tendency to enable Jihad:

• Wrong on Iraq

A graphic depiction of the impact of the surge on Al Qaeda in Iraq

Initially, then-Senator Hagel voted in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom to overthrow Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq. But when the insurgency did not go so well, Hagel flip-flopped and called for a withdrawal of US troops in just 120 days back in 2007.

Had such a policy been implemented, Al Qaeda and other Jihadist elements would have emerged victorious in Iraq and the US would have been seen as clearly losing Iraq to Al Qaeda. This would have energized Al Qaeda and given it the biggest recruiting boost since the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States homeland. This would have essentially allowed the global jihad to morph at an accelerated rate.

Then, when the US announced the surge counteroffensive in Iraq, Senator Hagel said it would be “the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam, if it’s carried out.”

Hagel is clearly no military strategist. The surge broke the back of the insurgency, drastically reduced the violence in Iraq and allowed the US to draw down its force levels in a secure manner.

To be sure, Iraq is no utopia today, but violence levels there are no where near what they were during the insurgency and, most importantly, Al Qaeda was denied victory in Iraq due to the surge.

Wrong on Hezbollah

In 2006 Hagel was one of a just 11 senators who refused to sign a letter urging the European Union to designate Hezbollah a terrorist organization. Hezbollah not only killed 241 Marines, soldiers and sailors in Beirut, Lebanon on 23 October 1983, they also kidnapped and murdered US Marine Colonel William Higgins in 1988 when he was on UN Peacekeeping duty. More recently, Hezbollah was active in fighting US GIs in Iraq and Hezbollah members captured, tortured and killed US GIs in Iraq.

Colonel William “Rich” Higgins, USMC–Kidnapped and murdered by Hezbollah in 1988.

Ali Mussa Daqduq: Hezbollah leader captured in Iraq in 2007. He planned a raid in which 4 US soldiers were captured, subsequently tortured and killed in Karbala, Iraq. He was captured by US Special Operations Forces, but was released from custody when President Obama refused to have him remanded to the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Wrong on Iran

Iranian “art” in Tehran

Chuck Hagel has a shamefully weak record on Iran, the world’s foremost state sponsor of Jihadist terrorism and a serial proliferator of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles.

His weakness on Iran goes way back to August of 2001 when he was one of just two US Senators to vote against renewal of the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act. The Iran-Libya Sanctions Act was set up to punish entities for investing in Iranian or Libyan petroleum industries, aiming to prevent Tehran or Tripoli from gaining petroleum profits that could be used to develop or acquire weapons of mass destruction or to finance terrorism.

In September 2007, Hagel voted against designating the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist entity. 76 Senators voted for the bill in an overwhelming bipartisan vote.

In July 2008, Hagel voted in the Senate Banking Committee against legislation imposing sanctions on countries conducting certain business with Iran. The legislation passed 19-2.

In October 2008 Hagel single-handedly killed Senator Gordon Smith’s (R-Oregon) S.970 Iran Counter-Proliferation Act, a bill that had 71 co-sponsors, 36 Republican and 35 Democrat. This act would have strengthened the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act (now referred to simply as the Iran Sanctions Act).

Chuck Hagel: Wrong for America

Leftist pundits are creating a straw man argument by promoting the meme that only the “Jewish lobby” is opposed to Hagel because of his record of not supporting Israel.

This dishonest tactic is merely meant as a smokescreen to mask Hagel’s shamefully weak, longstanding record on Jihad and terrorism primarily directed against the United States and its citizens.

Call and write your Senator and tell him/her to oppose the nomination of Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense. America cannot afford to have someone as weak on Jihadist terrorism as Chuck Hagel.

There was a time when it was considered necessary and proper to be concerned about possible foreign influences in US government and military service. Way back in 1981 when I first filled out forms as part of the process for joining the US military (it was a DOD form, I don’t remember the number) I had to answer a specific question regarding travel. The question asked if I had traveled to any of a list of nations after certain dates (all communist bloc countries) with a date listed by each nation (the date that each country had turned communist).

Anyone who joined the military in the Cold War era probably remembers this form and this question. If the answer to the question for any of the nations involved was “yes” you had to provide a complete explanation for the reason for the trip, when it took place, etc. Having never visited countries like Cuba, North Korea, East Germany, the Soviet Union, etc., I can’t say that I know what the process would have been had I answered yes.

But the point is, if you wanted to join the US military and you had even visited any communist countries, the Department of Defense wanted to know about it.

Fast forward to today. We are locked in a mortal struggle against a force not unlike communism. In fact, it has been called “communism with a god.” That force is Islam as defined by the Shariah doctrine which forms the basis for it. There are certain countries and organizations that are prominent in the enemy threat doctrine. Yet, to my knowledge, today we have no similar safeguards in place to what the DOD had during the Cold War years to check on the influence of foreign powers on American institutions. For instance, are any questions ever raised about travel to Iran, Syria or Sudan, three countries on the State Department’s list of terrorist sponsoring nations? For that matter, what about travel to Yemen, like Carlos Bledsoe did where he was indoctrinated to wage jihad in the USA by Anwar al-Alwaki? What about travel to the tribal areas of Pakistan, where the Times Square bomber traveled and received training? For that matter, how about travel to Saudi Arabia? After all, the Salafi strain of Islam that gave birth to Al Qaeda has its seat there and most of Al Qaeda’s cannon fodder seems to come from Saudi Arabia.

Then there is the whole present question of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood is best described as the forefather of all modern Jihadist terrorist groups. Its apologists and proponents claim that the Muslim Brotherhood has completely eschewed violence, yet the available evidence proves otherwise. HAMAS was founded as a Muslim Brotherhood wing and has been designated a foreign terrorist organization by the US State Department. HAMAS is one of the deadliest Jihadist organizations in the world, having carried out numerous Islamikaze bombings. And make no mistake, HAMAS has a large presence inside the USA.

There seems to have developed in recent years some romanticized view of the Muslim Brotherhood among certain naive political factions in the USA–and not just Democrats. Rather than being viewed as an organization in the political wing of a global insurgency, the Muslim Brotherhood is unfortunately being embraced in the West and the US. Senator John McCain, for instance, seems to have become smitten with the Muslim Brotherhood after meeting with them for a few hours in Egypt. But no one has embraced the Muslim Brotherhood quite like the Obama administration. The Obama administration has established close ties to Muslim Brotherhood organizations in the US and met with them at length and frequently. All indications are that the Muslim Brotherhood plays a prominent role in the Obama administration. Organizations like CAIR (the Council on American Islamic Relations) and ISNA (the Islamic Society of North America) were named unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land Foundation trial, the largest terrorism financing conviction in US history. (Attorney General Holder declined to prosecute these organizations when he came to office, despite intentions by others in the Justice Department to do so.) In the Holy Land Foundation trial, in documented evidence that was stipulated to by the defense, both CAIR and ISNA were identified as Muslim Brotherhood organizations.

And yes, a high-level member of the Clinton staff at the State Department, Huma Abedin, comes from a prominent Muslim Brotherhood family. Her father, her brother and her mother all have prominent positions in the Muslim Brotherhood apparatus. If during the Cold War such a person came from a family with extensive ties to the Communist Party of Romania or East Germany, there would have been ample reason to conduct a security investigation. But in today’s politically correct surreal world of Washington DC “go along to get along” culture, it seems that no questions can be raised. This is the same culture that looked the other way while a known Jihadist, Major Nidal Hassan, hid right out in the open in the US Army spouting Islamic Jihad doctrine, culminating in the terrible terrorist attack at Fort Hood.

Well, the Center for Security Policy DID raise questions. The Center produced a 10-part video course on the Muslim Brotherhood in America that every American should watch: http://www.muslimbrotherhoodinamerica.com. Among others members of Congress, Michelle Bachmann has written a letter to inspectors general of key Washington departments inquiring as to Muslim Brotherhood influence in Washington’s halls of power. For her trouble, the likes of Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Anderson Cooper and a host of Leftist media from the Huffington Post to the Los Angeles Times and MSNBC have attacked Rep. Bachmann.

They have all done so in a total vacuum of knowledge about the Muslim Brotherhood, the Holy Land Foundation trial and American fronts like CAIR and ISNA.

This all stems from a complete failure of our leadership to put America on a war footing in the wake of 9/11. Our leaders have failed to identify the enemy. They have failed to try to understand the enemy threat doctrine. In fact they have denied that an enemy threat doctrine even exists. As a result of this culture, an imperialist, nefarious organization with long-standing ties to terrorism and with goals identical to those of Al Qaeda itself, namely the Muslim Brotherhood, is treated as a friend, rather than as a foe. If you even suggest that the Muslim Brotherhood might be an enemy of America, Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Anderson Cooper will attack you as if you are a wild-eyed bomb-thrower. We are indeed through the looking glass.